


It's been good.

by NiwaHanake



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: 70+, Actually no depression, Adoption, GRANDKIDS EVEN, Grown old together, I promise, Kids, M/M, More or less Euthanasia, Nostalgia, Old and Wrinkly, Other, Post raising said kid, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Short Story, Sincere reminiscence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-05 21:35:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10317467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NiwaHanake/pseuds/NiwaHanake
Summary: An old man's morning and early afternoon, heavily reminiscing the times he skated among the world's top with a smile on his face. meanwhile the Hasetsu spring air is disrupted by a cold chill, one he recognises from the earlier days.(I began writing a couple hours ago and I didn't stop I'm tired its 1 AM but I promise it's not a shitfic)





	

**Author's Note:**

> I decided since like… episode 5 that if Vitya and Yuuri were to have a child they’d adopt a child in Russian under Yuuri’s last name, preferably female, as it’d feminize the last name (at least in my head that makes sense, right? I’m dutch don’t quote me on how these things work I had literally 2 acquaintances with last names that work that way) So in this case Ivana Katsukaya… I’ve made my reasoning. Let’s get on with the fic. 
> 
> This was also thought of like 3 hours ago and I began writing and I did not have anyone beta this please be gentle with my ass

A surprisingly harsh, wintery air hung over the countryside Japanese house. Despite it being late March, it was cold enough to need a jacket when going outside. Quite unusual to the Hasetsu area, but never would Yuuri complain about the deviations the weather made.

After all in the years that he’d lived he’d encountered so many more strange things. Things that had an audacity that not even his teenage dreams had ever compared to…

The man, who was now quite old and had more wrinkles than he’d imagine he’d have when approaching the age of some coaches he knew from back in his skating days, got up and got himself dressed in some halfway decent clothes. At least his face was in a permanent state of smiling, and satisfaction, rather than a resting bitch face, or permanent frown.  In his best attempt to stay fit, he grabbed himself and apple and a small knife, walked around to the back of the house, and sat down on one of the seats from a suspiciously European-looking garden lounge set.

Piece by piece, he calmly cut up the apple and listened to the bird’s song. Sometimes he wondered what they were singing about. The near frozen cherry blossom buds? How the strange old man sometimes wouldn’t stop talking to himself, and how he was intruding on the important conversations the birds had?

Sitting down outside wasn’t the best idea, as a cold chill ran down his spine. But now he’d decided on eating his morning apple outside and he wasn’t going to bend to the weather. He’d taken too good care of himself to fall ill to 2 degrees celcius while he was wearing a very comfortable sweater.

The stubborn old man shoved a piece of apple in his mouth and couldn’t help but feel the obligation to share. So one, two… three pieces were thrown into the bushes of his property to share with the local wildlife. The rest of his apple made his way safely into his belly, satisfied with the taste, and hands slightly sticky with apple juice, he made his way back inside. Where he promptly took care to wash his hands, and the knife he’d used. Putting it right back where it belonged with the rest of the knives.

He took the time to put on the kettle for some tea, though looking for any form of the stuff he came to the discovery that they were out. Completely, to the last leaf. He glanced over at the clock, well it was never too early for a morning stroll… and even if the supermarket wasn’t quite open yet, there were always convenience stores… although that one was a slight way’s off, not that the supermarket wasn’t, but he’d have had an excuse to put his driver’s license to use. Something he’d neglected getting until he hand his then-still fiancée wanted to adopt a child.

Reminiscing back to Victor and their relationship… it was something he couldn’t neglect to do at least once a day. How backwards they’d done things from traditional means. Adopt before marriage, seeing each other naked and not denying the sexual tension in the air before any pecks and ‘I like you’s’ Their marriage had been a relatively small, but glorious one. One that gained enough press attention too… somewhere he still had some old scrapbooks with things from that time, Victor’s skating carreer, their carreers together… and then when they began winding down, turning into what they were today.

Yuuri and Victor made the decision to move back to Hasetsu together… and though the hot springs resort Yu-topia wasn’t in business anymore, and Ice Castle’s new staff were complete strangers, somehow he felt that things hadn’t changed so much. Yuuri’s attempts to remain slender in his old age had gone to shit right past his fifty-fifth birthday, When he decided that after plenty of time of being fit, he had the right to no worry about weight. And Victor just wanted his man to be happy, therefore, the exercise regime and healthy diet slowly became more voluntary and a ‘I feel like’ diet.

Yuuri realised he’d gotten completely off track and sighed when he heard the ding of the kettle. “I’ll just have to re-boil it later..” he hummed and put on a jacket, and some shoes over his fuzzy socks to keep his chubby toes warm, despite the heated floor. He made sure he had enough coins with him for just some tea, and just like that left the house. He didn’t think to lock the door because honestly, what was there to truly steal? Televisions like the one he owned came dirt cheap these days, and a laptop like the one he used was the hand me down he’d initially bought after Ivana graduated college. Plus  crime rate was extremely low, there was more chance that Yuuri would die of a landslide or a heart attack than that his house would get robbed in the remainder of his lifetime.

It took him a nice 20 minute stroll to get to the convenience store. His pace was surprisingly quick compared to most pedestrians. Then again walks were his favourite thing these days, not much else to do but take in the scenery as life goes by in flashes. He could bug his daughter for grandkids or whatever but that was her choice entirely, something he was not to be a part of. Sure, he’d support either decision, but taking care of kids was a commitment and a half, and he’d never respected his mother so much in his life before.

He was greeted by the konbini clerk and Yuuri took his time browsing the shelves, taking a brief stop at the magazines, a book about skating caught his eye and he couldn’t help but smile at the headline. “Successor to Junior Leroy sets new record at Senior Debut” The name escaped him. He honestly couldn’t be bothered to memorise all the names of everyone’s kids, let alone grandchildren. He actually hadn’t kept tabs on Jean-Jacques at all… he wondered if his marriage to that Isabella girl was still a happy one. Maybe he’d look it up after he’d get back.  He’d be a hypocrite if he said that he didn’t believe in first relationships being successful. Not that his college days with his dorm and rinkmate never counted, but they both had always known that it was rather curiosity and platonic trust, and a dash of good old teenage lust that let them do those things rather than romance and adoration.

He walked on through the isles and looked for a nice flavour of tea to take home. Something that wasn’t too bitter, he didn’t feel like being bitter today. Something fruity should do… and so he’d simply chosen for caramelized strawberry. When the clerk was ringing him up he glanced over at the warm food section, there was a warm pork bun in there… and it kind of called out to him.

Why not, knowing that he likely would get to doing something he’d skip lunch anyway. So with his box of tea, and pork bun in hand, he was strolling on back home. His bun was long gone by the time he’d arrived home, and he indeed needed to re-boil the water, as it was about lukewarm right now, and he preferred his tea to brew hot.

While preparing the tea he decided to boot up that laptop to satiate that lingering curiosity concerning JJ’s family and the like. He’d finished that up quickly, as Yuuri was quite a quick reader and for this he only needed to skim the articles at that. Isabella Leroy-Yang was still alive and healthy, had been mother of three, and so was JJ apparently.  His oldest kid was actually older than Ivana, another reminder how late he and Victor had started on kids.

Then again for a long time they had dogs. Dogs double as kids.

At least Yuuri thought so… Vicchan and Maccachin were definitely the two most loyal and sweet dogs they’d ever had in their lives… not that the others weren’t great, but there’s something about a pet that makes it special when it lives alongside you among formative years and major life events….

His tea had settled and was almost drinkable temperature now. And with a bit of a jumpy response from Yuuri, his phone buzzed. None other than his not-so-little girl.

“ Hi papa! I’ve got someone with me today who I’d really love for you to meet. We’ll arrive at the station around noon so please pick us up. Japanese houses all look the same and I’m not getting lost again ;.; “

“Also I’m bringing Latte, so if you don’t like the guest I’m bringing you can be preoccupied with him ;3c” She added quickly and Yuuri chuckled, truly took after her father.

Latte was the little runt in Macchiato’s last litter. The other pups did not have silly beverage realted names, in fact they didn’t name them at all since they were going to be adopted… but Macchiato was a second-generation Makkachin offspring, named and raised by none other than Ivana herself. She thought that Makkachin was a play or deviation on “Mocha-chan” and therefore decided that all the dogs that the Nikiforov-Katsuki household should have be named after beverages, so far they’ve had Macchiato, Latte, Pressi (Espresso) and Meri (Americano), who took an amazing affinity towards Mari. Either way Ivana was not going to let the newlyfound family tradition go.

“Don’t use the dog as an excuse to get me distracted from your guest” he ‘scolded’

“Should I wear neat socks or are the fluffy ones okay?”

It took a little while for Ivana to reply.

“As long as you wear pants and a shirt I’m satisfied. Then again you’re not Otets, so I don’t need to worry about that.”  And that kind of stung. Not that Ivana didn’t have the right to call Victor out on his shameless exhibitionism even past middle age, but simply the mention.

You see between Christmas and New year’s last year Victor hadn’t been feeling too hot. And after some careful negotiation on all of their ends, and with the diagnose of inevitable heart failure, they had chosen against looking for a donor, against medication slowing the process, and semi-illegally accelerating the process by allowing his man to drink like he used to back in the day, when he wanted to.

Victor’s reasoning had been that, what would he do with a donor’s heart? When that heart could go to someone young and spry? He was eventually going to go between now and two, if he was lucky three, decades. Plus, he himself had always stated that he found the thought of organs being harvested from his body incredibly icky, and therefore was not a donor himself. Fair enough, and Yuuri knew that he couldn’t change his husband’s mind for the world… especially not with the line he’d said to him right before making the news public. “I’d rather pass knowing when, with you next to my side, than risk another 20 years of guessing who will go first…” The line after that was a lot less charming. “Plus I’ve gotta make sure our condo up in heaven-or-wherever is big enough because it’s getting crowded no?”

On the twenty-ninth of December, a couple days after Victor’s seventy-eighth and final birthday, he passed away dozing off, cuddling and kissing Yuuri in bed. It was such a serene thing, Yuuri honestly didn’t mind… victor had looked so serene… so at peace. Sure, he’d let a couple tears, but it were tears of pride. In a sense, happiness.

Throughout his life Victor had always done so well. He’d never ceased to amaze him right down to his last breath as he passed away. A beautiful man, beautifully flawed, messy, never did the dishes for one, chaotic and forgetful (Yuuri dubbed it a miracle Victor didn’t get Alzheimer’s) but still, in everything he did there lied passion, a flame that kept burning towards a goal.

The funeral had been even more beautiful in his opinion… they’d kept it fairly lighthearted, small. Skaters that had been close friends had been invited, whatever family was left, of course… it was a wonderful service and everyone had their share of laughter, tears, frustrations and adorations concerning the man who was in a sure sense respected by all who were present.

Just after valentines day he himself was diagnosed with something Yuuri didn’t bother remembering the name of. Estimated natural life expectancy was between 7 and 12 months, and Yuuri was okay with that. He’d been okay with his life. It had it’s ups, some deep downs, but then also some very high peaks… He was proud of himself. If not through himself, then a shared pride he’d learnt to adopt from Victor. He decided to keep calm and quiet about it. He wasn’t going to inconvenience and let people worry. Without medications and the like he did have occasional moments of pain, sometimes dull, sometimes intense… but he almost felt like he’d suffered worse before. Perhaps years upon years of falling to the ice and anxiety attacks over practically nothing had paid off to a high stress and pain tolerance.

Coming back from recollection, Yuuri took a deep breath and finished his tea, he got up from his chair in the dining area and walked on to his bedroom, making the bed and glancing at the little shrine to those he cared for and passed. The amount of picture frames was increasing nearly every year, he felt… then again years passed him by without him realising… you could have told Yuuri that Victor had his first warning sign of heart failure last week and he wouldn’t have realised it was a horrible lie.

He rearranged the frames a little, to be up straighter, better… and he lit a new stick of incense, shooting everyone a quick prayer, one of thankfulness, of keeping watch over him and taking care of him even in days where he was alone.

When he glanced at the clock once more, it was time to step into the car to pick up his daughter and the person whom he presumed would be a significant other. Honestly he was happy for his girl, as long as her partner wasn’t a manipulative sack of asshole that used her because she looked nice or whatever.

He waited patiently at the exit and entrance to the station, knowing his kid would recognize him and vice versa, after all they’d known each other for the better part of what, 30 years now? Yuuri wasn’t going to start keeping tabs now, but he did know that he’d raised her all the way from diapers to college degree, so that was long enough.

The first non-japanese looking figures that came out were the ones that he was looking for. Ivana walked up to her father and gave him a hearty hug. “Hi papa.” She said softly, the tone of her voice laced in ‘I missed you’. The lady was a rather tall, especially by Japanese standards, woman, with light brown hair, pale skin and eyes that somehow reminded Yuuri of Christophe each time he glanced at her. Which served for strange intrusive thoughts every once in a while, but it didn’t matter. She may have been adopted and have none of Yuuri or Victor’s genepool, she was still just as much a Katsuki in his eyes.

The way Ivana was smiling told Yuuri a big announcement was coming. “Papa… I’ve kept an itty bitty secret from you… and that is that I am engaged… to Will over here.” She said and tugged at the feminine looking person’s waist. Yuuri labelled as feminine but honestly, it was a kind of androgyny if he was specific. The androgyny that could be compared to Yuri P on his senior debut, or a tomboy before puberty. “I am incredibly happy for you, Ivana, may the two of you be incredibly happy.” He knew he said all that stuff about manipulative assholes but the feeling he got from this person was initially good, and he trusted his child, she was old and wise enough to know what’s good for her and well…

Sometimes what’s good for you is falling flat on your face, just sometimes, like with ice-skating the best way to get rid of the fear of falling is to actually fall a couple times.

Either way… he looked at the couple and found that even aesthetically they were good for one another. “This does call for some celebration, no? I recall there being a cake shop somewhere in this town… Supermarket cake would work but you and I both can’t bake and I’m not taking a cheap supermarket cake for my daughter’s engagement announcement.” He said, obviously having adopted the quality-over-thought thing from Victor over time. As time went on and it became clear just how much money they had left in the bank, he figured he could be a little more lucrative in spending… he could never be half as //extra// as Victor was, but he could meet him quarterway, maybe.

“Where’s my Latte by the way?” He asked with a raised brow and with some coercion the small pup poked his head out of Ivana’s bag. The little guy was going to be nowhere as big as Maccachin… perhaps he’d end up a bit smaller than Vicchan even. Probably, after all this little guy had had a bit of trouble growing up already. “There he is~” Yuuri cooed and fluffed the pups ears with old, worn hands.

“Anyway, cake. Oh and Will, is there anything you can’t eat?” he asked as he led everyone to the car, luggage and all. He’d had an idea of what he was going to make tonight… “My stomach’s a bit iffy on mushrooms, but apart from that I’m fine.” Will answered with a smile. Ivana rolled her eyes. “What Will means to say is they don’t like the texture of Mushroom.” And that earned Will a glance from Yuuri. “Oh I can help that…. May not be a chef, but I’m a decent cook… Now.. have you ever heard of Katsudon?”

**Author's Note:**

> отец/Otets is what Ivana calls Victor (It means Father, he's not mistaking him for Otabek holy shit)  
> and Yuuri is simply called "Papa"
> 
> Will is something I came up with on the spot, whatever you think is right for ivana is Will. Did not even decide a gender.
> 
> Also I imagine Ivana does not speak Japanese. She may catch Yuuri's and understand it enough but she'd be totally lost at speaking considering Yuuri and Victor moved to Hasetsu post Ivana's graduation and indepence. she'd be fluent in at least Russian and English though, probably some French too for the sake of godfather Chris and travelling.


End file.
